


Journey.

by JenJo



Series: 52 Short Stories in 52 Weeks [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Dimension Travel, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 11:06:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6049294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenJo/pseuds/JenJo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Clint and Bucky jump over a dimension.<br/>(Totally not their fault, despite what Steve says.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Journey.

**Author's Note:**

> Week 7: A story about a journey.

"You know Barton, when you asked me if I wanted to go on a journey with you, I thought that ‘journey’ was was just fancy talk for a trip around New York," Bucky yelled out, in between knocking out goons, "Not a literal journey to another dimension."

(They had figured that this was a different dimension when the foes were yelling ‘For Hydra!’ while dressed in AIM yellow, using weapons based in magic.)

"To be fair, I didn't think we’d end up in an alternate dimension when we left home this morning," Clint called back, fighting back to back with Bucky.

"How did we even end up here?"

"Best I can figure, it's Tony's fault."

Bucky snorted. "How do ya figure that?"

"When I saw him this morning, he was talking about how Richards was messing with dimensions again."

"Only talking?"

"Yeah, he was complaining. Anyways, our adventure this morning probably had us cross paths with Richards’ experiments. And wham bam, here we are."

Clint waved his hands around as Bucky disposed of the last foe.

"So how long before we get to go back?"

Clint shrugged. "That relies on Richards fixing the problem."

"Which he won’t be able to do while Steve and Tony are yelling at him."

"I think they would refer to it as encouraging."

 

\-----

 

"Don’t think of it as us yelling at you for losing two Avengers," Tony spoke as he does to the press (slowly and clearly enouncing each syllable), "But as two founding Avengers politely asking you to bring them back now."

Reed looked to Steve, who shrugged. "Don’t look at me. I'm ready to see how many times I can punch your head before it snaps out of shape."

Reed held up his hands. "It wasn't my fault. They walked-"

"Across the street. They were walking across the street Reed."

"A blocked off street."

"What?" Steve & Tony asked in unison.

"The street was closed," Reed pulled up several websites, & police reports. "They shouldn't have been on the street."

Steve face palmed as Tony read the screens.  

"Give us a moment" Tony said to Reed, pulling Steve away. Reed shook his head, going back to his computer.

Tony and Steve turned their backs to Reed, in a semblance of privacy, and spoke in hushed whispers.

"Tony?"

"Yeah it’s their fault."

"We need to apologise to him."

"How about, they can apologise when they get back."

"How do they even get themselves into these messes?"

"I don’t know. My theory is that the unique combination of Barton and Barnes creates a force field around them, rendering the laws of reality null and void."

"I’m pretty sure that's not the case."

"You got a better theory?" Steve shrugged in response. "Didn't think so."

 

\-----

 

"Okay, this looks bad."

"No shit Sherlock."

Clint and Bucky, standing in the middle of the fallen foes, faced a man who looked like Steve, but the uniform was different. A dark blue had replaced the light blue, and the cowl covered up his face more.

"I will ask again. Who are you?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Commander America, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Steve?" Bucky asked. The man turned his attention to Bucky.

"How do you know my name?"

"You don’t recognise me?"

Bucky walked closer to this Steve, stepping over the unconscious bodies. Clint followed.

"Why would I?"

"This is really bad,” Clint muttered under his breath. Bucky rolled his eyes.

"Shut up Barton."

"Did you just say…” Steve trailed off, looking closer at Clint. Clint gave Steve a small smile. Steve  pulled off his helmet, eyes starting to water.  “Clint."

"Uh, what's happening?" Clint looked to Bucky, who shrugged.

Steve embraced Clint, close to tears. "I thought I had lost you."

"Uhh... Bucky? Help?"

 

\-----

 

"Alternate reality?"

"Yeah, I've been documenting them as a side project. Don’t look at me like that,” Reed looked at Tony, who held up his hands. Steve gave him a look, before Tony rolled his eyes and motioned for Reed to continue. “The one that Barnes and Barton are in, is mostly similar to our own. Matches for significant wars, leaders, and several other factors that you aren’t interested in. A noticeable difference  between the two realities, which would be of interest here, is that Clint Barton was Steve Rogers’ childhood friend, and consequently, fell off the train in WW2, not Barnes."

“Yeah, that’ll go down well,” Tony muttered. Only Steve heard him, and put a hand on his shoulder to quiet him.

"Do we know if they're in danger?"

"They should be alright, and they should be recognised as friendly.  I'm attempting to open another portal."

"Do we have a time frame?"

"No."

"So in summary,” Tony said, “We are  relying on Barton & Barnes to stay out of trouble."

 

\-----

 

"An alternate reality?” Steve, who was obviously Steve now that he wasn’t wearing the helmet, ran a hand through his (brown) hair.  “Explain Stark."

The man, clearly this universe’s Tony Stark, (same facial hair, hair colour, he’d pass for a twin, if one ignored the glasses) pushed his glasses up his nose and nodded to Steve.

"Right, Commander Stark. An alternate reality is-"

"Wait," Clint interrupted. He looked between the two, looking closer.

“Clint?” Bucky raised an eyebrow at Clint, who held up a hand.

“They’re married,” Clint stated after half a minute. Bucky looked at the pair with renewed interest.

“It’s not exactly a secret,” Steve shrugged a shoulder. “Is that a problem?”

Tony smiled. “I’m guessing in your world, we’re not.”

“Nope.”

“Weird.”

“That’s certainly a word we could use.”

“While I’m sure we can spend hours talking about the differences in our realities,” Steve began, (and the  _ Captain America  _ tone is consistent across realities), “Shouldn’t we be focusing on getting them home?”

“Right, right. Where was I?”

“Explaining alternate realities.”

“Thank you beloved,” Tony gave Steve a smile. “Now, an alternate reality is the term used to describe a world like our own, but operating under different conditions. Some changes are large, for example humans evolving from fish instead of apes. Other changes are more subtle, for example-”

“Clint being Steve’s childhood friend,” Bucky supplied.

“Exactly.”

“So how do you travel between the two?” Steve asked. Tony shrugged in response.

“No idea.”

“Really? You are admitting you have no idea?”

“I know my limitations.”

“In our universe, Reed Richards is the one who knows about travelling across realities,” Clint supplied. At the name, Steve and Tony both looked at him, looks of dread on their faces.

“You say that name so freely.”

“He’s arrogant, yeah, but a good guy.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice?” Tony looked up at Steve, who nodded.

“This world’s  Reed went really bad.”

“Okay, so hate to draw the attention-”

“You love the attention Barton.”

“But how are we getting home?”

Tony stood up, and put a hand on each of their shoulders. “Leave it with me. I have a few ideas to run through before quitting.”

 

\-----

 

“Steve Rogers, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D,” Bucky whistled, sitting in Steve’s office.

“Who would’ve thought it?” Clint smiled back.

The man in question shook his head. “You’re wrong; Steve Rogers was never Director. I was married a year before becoming Director.”

“Yeah, that’s weird too,” Bucky shook his head.

“What, don’t your versions get along?”

“No, they get along,” Clint explained. “What’s weird is seeing you two here? Confirms what we’ve been thinking about them.”

Whatever reply was coming was interrupted by the door opening. A man walked in, before standing to attention in between the chairs occupied by Clint and Bucky.

“Agent Barnes, reporting as ordered.”

Clint and Bucky turned in unison to look at the man. He looked the same as Bucky, except his hair was cut short.

Steve shook his head. “I sent you a message. I wasn’t to be disturbed.”

Agent Barnes reached into his pocket, pulling out a communicator. He winced, before looking back at Steve. “My bad. I slept in, and rushed to make it on time. The one time I’m early for a meeting, you go and cancel it. What is so important that…” he trailed off as he looked to his right, locking eyes with Bucky.

“We have a couple of visitors. And it would be best if their presence wasn’t known. I will contact you when I can meet with you. Dismissed Agent.”

Agent Barnes, who was still staring at Bucky, shook his head and snapped off a salute before leaving.

Bucky turned in his seat and watched the man leave.

“In any reality, you have a nice ass,” Clint (who had also turned to watch Agent Barnes leave) said with a smirk. Bucky looked at him, and hit him lightly on the head.

“Barton.”

“Come on, take the chance. When do you ever get to check yourself out?”

“It is a nice ass,” Bucky muttered, causing Clint to grin.

“Something we can certainly agree on.”

“Should I leave you two alone?” Steve asked, watching the pair with a smile on his face. Bucky laughed as Clint rolled his eyes.

“We have been known to do worse,” Clint said in explanation of Bucky’s laughter.

“Yeah, Steve would love it if that was the extent of our interactions in communal areas.”

“So, your team all live together?”

“In a tower,” Clint spoke (Bucky was still laughing). “Each floor is quartered, with a communal area in the middle. As well as several floors entirely purposed for team activities.”

“The Avengers?”

“Yeah. You have no equivalent here?”

Steve shook his head. “Not exactly. There are several divisions of S.H.I.E.L.D devoted to specialised teams though. They’re as much a family as troops in a war. Nothing like what you’ve told me though.”

  
  


\-----

  
  


In the end, it was Richards who was able to open up between the two dimensions again, and relay information to guide Bucky and Clint back home.

With the other Avengers otherwise occupied, Steve, Tony, Bucky, and Clint were in the communal dining area, discussing recent events.

“So, do we know what caused us to jump dimensions?” Clint asked, which caused Steve and Tony to glare at him.

“You did.”

“What?”

“You walked down a closed off street,” Steve elaborated. “It was closed down so that Reed could do his experiments.”

“You know I love to take every opportunity to argue with Richards,” Tony added, “But this time, he’s not at fault. You’re gonna have to apologise to him.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Because of you, his experiment failed, which means he has to close down more roads for longer.”

“That man has more power than he should,” Bucky grumbled.

Steve shook his head. “Perhaps. Did you at least have fun while over there?”

“It was alright, I guess.”

“Any major differences?” Tony asked.

“S.H.I.E.L.D was run by Commander Stark,” Bucky said, a small smile on his face.

“Director of S.H.I.E.L.D?” Tony smiled. “Sounds fun.”

Bucky and Clint shared a smile. “Bucky didn’t say that you were Director.”

Tony frowned. “Yes he did. Commander Stark.”

Bucky began laughing at Tony’s confused face. “Yeah, that’s what I said. But not Tony Stark; Commander  _ Steve  _ Stark.”

Tony blinked, looked at Steve, then looked back at Bucky. “What?”

“You broke him Bucky,” Clint pushed Bucky lightly.

“Barton,” Steve glared at Clint, who held up his hands innocently.

“Steve  _ Stark _ ?” Tony echoed.

Steve hummed. “Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

That comment caused the three others in the room to look at Steve, all having lost their brain functions. Steve simply smiled, and left the room after dropping a kiss to the top of (a still stunned) Tony's head.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.  
> There is an alternate ending for this, which I might post as another chapter.  
> See you next week.


End file.
